# Built Myself an Indestructible Humidor



## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

I was given a couple UnderwaterKinetics boxes (similar to Pelican) that were going to be trashed after use holding/shipping some demo electronics.

They sat on a shelf in my garage for a bit over a year, couldn't think of anything to do with them being that they're heavy and bulky.

A few weeks ago I ordered more cigars than I could store in my tupperdor (usually keep 4-10 sticks). It was my first time ordering cigars online and I overdid it. So now I had about 50 sticks and no place to put them. I bought another big tupperware box while I thought about humidors. I didn't want to buy a cheap humidor, but not looking to spend hundreds of dollars or more when I'm still fairly new in the hobby. Plus, the owner of my local B&M talked me out of buying one of his cheapos and told me to use tupperdor or coolerdor if I needed more room.

It's been too cold here in Indiana to smoke outside, so I haven't been using any of mine. Plus I "discovered" cigarbid and thew out a couple low bids on some lots of cigars I was interested in trying. Won 6 of the 9 lots I bid on, so I've got another 50 cigars on the way. I assumed I'd be outbid on at least half. But, I got some great deals on what I'm hoping are great cigars.

But now I needed more room and a couple tupperware boxes were affording me. I went out to the garage to see if I still had my old cooler with a broken drain valve, thought that would be perfect. I still have it, but I remembered the UK boxes and dragged one of them downstairs. The boxes are fairly new, the seals are perfect.









There's 6 tension latches around the perimeter and a thick overlapping lip with a silicone ring seal around the seam.

I bought a bunch of Spanish cedar, 30 board feet total, with 10ft 3/4" thick and the rest 1/4".

Cut everything to length and press-fit in the box. Humidified the wood with a saucer of DW for a week and then added a heartfelt beads in two half pound mesh bags. After another week the beads were clearing, the saucer came out and hygrometer went in. 2 days later, holding 68%. Once the wood was humidified, the press-fit was solid. I intended to pull the wood once humidified and have a friend cut for biscuit joints or maybe pin nail em, but no need.

Tossed in a few sticks to see how it looked/estimate capacity: 








Pretty happy with the way it turned out and IMO, cooler than a cooler.


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## huskers (Oct 2, 2012)

Not to shabby....a few more dividers and it would look pretty sweet.


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## jp1979 (Sep 12, 2013)

Pretty cool... Good work


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

That's a sweet lookin' humidor. 
What is that black box by the way?


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## Branzig (Jul 14, 2013)

I've seen quite a few of these set ups for traveling.

Gotta say, they are pretty awesome! Well done.


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## J0N47H4N (Jan 26, 2014)

Nice humidor setup


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## teckneekz (Jan 25, 2014)

How's the seals holding up for u. Looks like a badass upgraded tupperdor. Looks great.


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## tx_tuff (Jun 16, 2007)

I like!


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

huskers said:


> Not to shabby....a few more dividers and it would look pretty sweet.


Yup. Ran out of Spanish cedar, need to order a bit more to make some trays.



Cigar-Enthusiast said:


> That's a sweet lookin' humidor.
> What is that black box by the way?


Its an Underwater Kinetics case. Basically the same as Pelican cases.



teckneekz said:


> How's the seals holding up for u. Looks like a badass upgraded tupperdor. Looks great.


Seals perfectly well. I need to add trays and or more dividers to keep organized. Its not big enough to put in full boxes, but will gladly hold the sticks if loose.


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## FlipMo (Oct 1, 2013)

Cool!


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## Chrishorsley13 (Jun 15, 2013)

That's nice, you said its heavy. How heavy is it?


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Love the ******* ingenuity!


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## VictorSmalls (Feb 16, 2014)

That looks great. I like the mix of the more modern case with the more traditional cedar interior. Have not see that combination.


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## Kilo (Feb 7, 2014)

Good job!! It looks great. I have something very similar that I keep some fishing reels in. It's too bulky for that purpose. I'll have to keep this in mind for overflow.


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

Chrishorsley13 said:


> That's nice, you said its heavy. How heavy is it?


I'd guess somewhere around 25-30 lbs. It does have a set of wheels and a handle like a luggage bag, as well as handles on 3 sides for lifting so it's not terribly difficult to maneuver.



MDSPHOTO said:


> Love the ******* ingenuity!


I've never been one to throw anything away that might have a use in the future. I knew I'd use the cases for something eventually, I have a ton of hobbies: brewing beer, racing cars, restoring old motorized vehicles - bikes, tractors, cars, anything really, used to do competitive shooting, still load my own ammo but just shoot for fun, I have acreage, grow fruit trees/shrubs and hops for brewing, and I enjoy cigars and whiskeys... So something was going to fit in this case eventually. Best part is, total cost to me for the project was about $60ish in lumber.



VictorSmalls said:


> That looks great. I like the mix of the more modern case with the more traditional cedar interior. Have not see that combination.


Thanks. I am really happy with the way it turned out. I still haven't loaded it with smokes, hopefully it works as well as I hope it will. I have no reason to believe it wouldn't perform well, it seals as tight as any tupperdor, if not better.


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

Is everyone able to see the pictures? 

It wouldn't let me attach them as IMG because I don't have enough posts, so I attached image using the button and entered the URL of my photos and apparently you all can see them, but I can't. 

When I viewed this thread from my phone, I could see little thumbnails of my pictures but that's it. 

When I postwhore a bit more I'll stick some more pictures in here.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

danmdevries said:


> I was given a couple UnderwaterKinetics boxes (similar to Pelican) that were going to be trashed after use holding/shipping some demo electronics.
> 
> They sat on a shelf in my garage for a bit over a year, couldn't think of anything to do with them being that they're heavy and bulky.
> 
> ...


Nice job looks great!


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

MDSPHOTO said:


> Love the ******* ingenuity!


******* bird feeder?


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## SeanTheEvans (Dec 13, 2013)

danmdevries said:


> Is everyone able to see the pictures?
> 
> It wouldn't let me attach them as IMG because I don't have enough posts, so I attached image using the button and entered the URL of my photos and apparently you all can see them, but I can't.
> 
> ...


I can see them, everything looks great. You did a real nice job, looks very professional. Now I'm going to have to start looking at the crap lying around my own home differently.... no longer just "stuff" but "opportunities"


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

SeanTheEvans said:


> I can see them, everything looks great. You did a real nice job, looks very professional. Now I'm going to have to start looking at the crap lying around my own home differently.... no longer just "stuff" but "opportunities"


Lol the stuff I have is just crap...:banana:


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## teckneekz (Jan 25, 2014)

How many do u think it could hold?


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## MDSPHOTO (Sep 10, 2013)

Cigar-Enthusiast said:


> ******* bird feeder?


Nice, I would so be fined by my HOA for having a bird feeder let alone that bird feeder!


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

MDSPHOTO said:


> Nice, I would so be fined by my HOA for having a bird feeder let alone that bird feeder!


Those HOA are out of control. What ever happened to freedom? :bounce:


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## Sad Man's Tongue (Dec 18, 2013)

That's pretty awesome!


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## T.E.Fox (Jul 11, 2013)

Now should we have any Earth-shattering, apocalyptic events in the near future, we know where to head for the last few cigars on Earth :lol:

Looks great!


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## Dual-500 (Feb 20, 2012)

Nice - DIY projects are great!


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

Finally postwhored enough to get pictures allowed but for some reason I can't edit my OP anymore?

Should've taken a few more pictures, but oh well.







Brown truck stopped by earlier today and gave me these:

Still need quite a bit more to get this box filled.


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## CigarInspector (Aug 22, 2013)

New photos are fantastic. Looks even better close up, especially the wood. How is it working out as far as performance?


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

CigarInspector said:


> New photos are fantastic. Looks even better close up, especially the wood. How is it working out as far as performance?


So far so good, holds a solid 70 with the HF beads despite the temp in my basement being 59°F currently. I've never seen the basement temp above 65 or below 58, so I think that will hold steady.

Really I can't imagine having any problems with it, it's nothing more than a coolerdor with a very good seal that I've added a mass of Spanish Cedar.


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## Dual-500 (Feb 20, 2012)

I think it's very cool.


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## ck475 (May 25, 2013)

Nice. What are the dimentions of the case? It looks pretty big.


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

ck475 said:


> Nice. What are the dimentions of the case? It looks pretty big.


approximately 24"x18"x8"

This is the case


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## amcwilli1 (Feb 21, 2014)

This is awesome. Way to be ingenuitive, may have to try!


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## Cigar-Enthusiast (Feb 2, 2014)

danmdevries said:


> approximately 24"x18"x8"
> 
> This is the case


That's one expensive case!


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## ck475 (May 25, 2013)

Cigar-Enthusiast said:


> That's one expensive case!


Maybe sell it and get a Daniel Marshall.


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## danmdevries (Jan 31, 2014)

amcwilli1 said:


> This is awesome. Way to be ingenuitive, may have to try!


Go for it! It was a seriously simple construction. Only part that was marginally complex was using a dremel to contour all the boards to fit in a non-square-edged case with wheel reliefs and trimming the lid foam to seal onto the inner box.



Cigar-Enthusiast said:


> That's one expensive case!


UK cases aren't cheap. But you could always use a Pelican case, basically same thing. And I'm sure there's Chinese knockoffs somewhere as well.

I got the UK's for free, so I can't complain.



ck475 said:


> Maybe sell it and get a Daniel Marshall.


Why buy a Daniel Marshall when my Daniel DeVries case works just fine? :hat:


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## CigarInspector (Aug 22, 2013)

That's fantastic. I love your ingenuity.


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## crash-wizard (Sep 14, 2013)

Great job, looks fantastic!


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